The Jess Connolly Podcast

Friends! And you know we don't use that word lightly...  This is the second episode in our Friendship for Real Women series - and we're calling in an expert.  Danielle Bayard Jackson, a certified women's coach, focuses primarily on female heteronormative friendship and communication. She conducts surveys, creates research-based strategies, and teaches women how to have better relationships with one another. Out of her love for all things female friendship, she founded Friend Forward, a digital community that provides coaching, research articles, and connection events for women looking to create and maintain true friendships. She's changing women's lives through her gift of coaching, and we're so grateful for how she's paving the way for women on mission to dig deep together. In this episode, Danielle helps us dive in head first, answering questions like:  - ​Is friendship hard for everyone? Do all of us feel like we’re the only ones who never quite figured it out? - Why does it seem like women especially struggle with friendship? Where are we going wrong? - How do we define friendship? Is the definition different from woman to woman? - How can we readjust what hanging out looks like to maximize the time we have? - How do we communicate expectations and find balance in our friendships? - How do we handle 'friendship breakups'? - And more! (Seriously, this is a power packed episode.) We're so grateful for Danielle's generosity in sharing with us. There's no blueprint for friendship - no one has laid it out or given us a guidebook, so we're grateful to have a friend who's doing just that. We’re so excited about this series, because we were made to be in community. Share about it with your friends, or join in the conversation with other mission-minded women in the Go + Tell Gals community Facebook group. Who knows - you might just spark a new friendship! You might have heard Jess mention Good Body Gals and the incredible "Freedom Friday" deal happening there. Get a yearlong membership to Good Body Gals, plus the Body Shame Detox e-course, for $100 ($167 value). Click here to be one of the first to claim! We love you and commission you to go and tell the good news, in Jesus’ name.

Friends! And we actually mean it when we say friends. (Segue into today's episode...) Today we're so excited to launch a brand new podcast series - Friendship for Real Women. We know that we're created for community, so why do so many of us women struggle to experience abundance in our friendships? Over the course of the next four episodes, we're diving in deep. We may not have all the answers, but we want to ask the questions and process with you. We'll talk with each other, some experts, and some real-life friends in hopes of spurring us all on toward deeper, more fruitful friendships. In this episode, hosts Jess and Kennesha open this new series on friendship by speaking real words, telling real stories, and asking real questions, like: Is friendship hard for everyone else? Do all of us feel like we’re the only ones who never quite figured it out? What do we actually need from friendships as women on mission? After the forming, there’s storming. What do we do when something goes wrong in a friendship? We’re so excited about this series, because we were made to be in community. Share about it with your friends, or join in the conversation with other mission-minded women in the Go + Tell Gals community Facebook group. Who knows - you might just spark a new friendship!  We love you and commission you to go and tell the good news, in Jesus’ name.

We keep talking about revival in the office, wondering if anyone is actually experiencing it right now. And when we think of who is actually experiencing rest and renewal, it’s immediately our friend, Rebekah Lyons. This episode is packed with incredible wisdom, and we’re so excited to share it with you today. Rebekah is no stranger to the Go + Tell Gals Podcast (you can listen to her previously on the show, way back on episode 21!), and we are so grateful to have her back to share about her new devotional, A Surrendered Yes: 52 Devotions to Let Go and Let Free. Rebekah is a speaker, the host of the Rhythms for Life podcast, and a bestselling author. She shares her life honestly and vulnerably, and we are constantly blessed by her. In this episode, we’re diving into: How suffering actually serves us by pointing us back to our need for God, How surrendering leads to our freedom, How even when we insist on self-reliance, God offers mercy and compassion, And how God delights in simply being with us. We pray this episode encourages you today. God is mighty in you.

What is our physical environments are really just a reflection of what is happening inside of us? And what if it was easier - that we could actually have freedom? Allie Casazza is on a mission to eradicate the "hot mess mom" stereotype by empowering other women.  Allie began the conversation around minimalism after she struggled once having her second child. Every mom seemed to have it together, and if they didn't, "coffee 'til wine" was the mantra that was preached. Allie set out to change the narrative around motherhood and mission. Now, she offers several online courses and online communities, helping women, specifically mothers, simplify everything in their lives. In her own words, anything can be decluttered. In this episode, we sit down with Allie to talk about: why decluttering matters, especially in a season where we have all just spent so much time at home how freedom is actually accessible and how the less we have, the more content we might actually be. We pray this episode leaves you feeling more free and ready for abundance. God is mighty in you.

We sat down with our friend Jessica to have a sort of end-of-year check-in. Jessica Honegger is the founder and co-CEO of Noonday Collection, a wildly successful ethically-sourced, artisan-supporting jewelry and accessories company,  and she shares openly and vulnerably what 2021 has looked like for Noonday. The way that she leads with confidence and with honesty is incredibly encouraging, and we just know Jessica’s wisdom with bless you. In this conversation, we talk about: Adjusting to a new normal as we head in 2022 Refocusing our vision, remembering that the world needs us to walk alongside it Hearing from God And how living on mission really means you aren’t living for the outcome. As we all start to dream about 2022, we pray this episode gives you courage to recognize the feelings from 2021 and bravery to step into 2022, sowing seeds that will have Kingdom impact. We’re on your team, cheering you on, forever. If Team GATG can do anything for you, please let us know by emailing Brenna at podcast@goandtellgals.com. God is mighty in you today, sister.

A Google search says this: “Finding balance comes from giving time and energy to the things that build you up and give you life. And likewise, eliminating the things that bring you down and stress you out.” But as women of mission, we cannot just eliminate what is broken - we live in a broken world with real hurts and God has called us to this place. If everyone is trying to find it - this mysterious sense of balance - maybe it’s not there. We’re showing up to this conversation with these questions in hand: Who decides what is balanced? Is there a difference between worldly balance and Kingdom balance? Was Jesus balanced? How can we divulge ourselves of the illusion of balance to serve others? Listen in as we start what is only the beginning of this conversion. We pray this episode frees you up from the idea of needing to have it all together. His power is made perfect in our weakness, and we get to run in that freedom today.

Friends, you are in for an incredible conversation in this episode with our gal Hosanna. What does it look like to use our stories for God’s glory? Hosanna is exactly who we want to talk to to help us think through this. As Jess would say, Hosanna has the spirit of John, the Baptist, and this episode is sure to encourage and equip you today. In this conversation, we’re diving into: how to push past the insecurity, the fear, and the perceived inadequacy when telling our story how to share our full selves - questions, imperfections, what you like, and what you don’t like - with the world, for the good of others and the glory of God who the real Savior of our stories is Hosanna is an author, pastor, and speaker, using what God has given her - a story of growing up on the streets of San Francisco to now living on mission to see lives restored by the power of Jesus - to bring hope to a broken world. She believes in your story, in the Church, and in Jesus. Hosanna shares a bit of her story in this episode, but for more, we cannot recommend her brand new book, How to Not Save the World, enough - grab it wherever books are sold!  This conversation was filled with encouragement and hope, and we pray you finish this episode spurred on to go and tell the good news. We’re so grateful for you, friends. Keep going, God is mighty in you.

What does it look like for our prayers to be real, honest words - not performative, but an offering to God? Our friend Kayla Craig is leading us into this conversation, and we are so grateful for her mission. We spent a good bit of this conversation with Kayla just telling her how grateful we are for her work. The ministry she is doing is both unique and necessary. Kayla is, as we referred to her in this episode, a motherhood shepherd who is using her words to help parents navigate parenthood while leaning on God. She is a former journalist turned author. Her work began as she started writing prayers that she hoped would help us navigate parenting in an overwhelming world. Her online space, Liturgies for Parents, is an invitation to draw near to God. Her new book, To Light Their Way, releases on October 5, and we hope that you will preorder this incredible work of art. Whether you’re a parent or not, listen in on this episode. Kayla shares incredible wisdom for anyone running on mission. We hope you enjoy this conversation. God is mighty in you.

While mission and running on it is absolutely what we love to talk about here, we know that there are some pain points that we all have. We want to be like the friend you FaceTime to process with, so we’re shifting a bit. Interviews with incredible women of mission will absolutely continue here, but we’re also going to dive into the hard and heavy. How can we, the women of God, keep going in some tense spaces? What’s hard about this for us, for you? We have a lot of questions and only a few answers, but we’re leaning in to create some conversation that will hopefully and prayerfully lead us to more compassion, more curiosity, and more hope in Jesus. In this episode, we’re talking all about how we, the women of mission that God is using to bring about change in the world, handle conflict and tension online. How do take care of our souls? How can we use the internet as a window to learn without crashing in the walls of our soul that do keep us safe? And how do we love people well, even when we disagree? We pray this conversation encourages and equips you today as you navigate the internet and social media today. If you love this episode, we would love to hear it! Email Brenna at podcast@goandtellgals.com to share your thoughts on this conversation. We can’t wait to hear from you!

Friends, for a conversation on embracing your story and all its dirty parts, we could think of no better gal than our friend, Mary. In this episode, we’re diving into how to push past the shame of your story to embrace the wisdom gained and the strength of God found right there. God’s power is made perfect in our weakness, and that means we can fully embrace our stories, amen? Mary Marantz is a Yale Law School graduate and the first in her immediate family to go to college. Her newest book, Dirt, is about growing up in West Virginia, and you are absolutely going to want to grab a copy. We pray this episode equips and encourages you to tell your story, no matter how messy. God is mighty in you, and He’s using it all for the good of others and the glory of Himself.